"Madam, welcome on board."

Tilbury’s pier is moored by a giant steel ship that looks young. It is about 100 meters wide and 20 meters wide. The overall shape is a long and narrow shuttle. There are three-story buildings on the deck and two chimneys above it. In the thick gray smoke, a sailor was climbing on the mast of the bow to blow his trumpet. The tune was hard to hear.

The white paint of the hull and the black bottom marked with the waterline peeled off in some places, revealing the rusty iron underneath. Barnacles and some unnamed shells and algae clung to the bottom of the boat, occasionally revealing the body with the shaking of the water. ——A red flag adorned with a white five-pointed star is painted on the ship. The color is also dirty by rain and sunlight. The name underneath is new paint. Looking at the bright tiles from a distance, it says " Canad-White Star Shipping Company".

The waiters in brand-new sailor suits stood on the shore to help the VIPs with their bags and dogs. They used iron fences to enclose a huge space on the pier for tourists who had purchased first-class tickets to board the ship first. The spacious and white gangway handrails It is even dotted with enamel mosaics imported from the far east, which seem to be the story of Napoleon’s creation of an empire.

Nelson put the box at his feet and was standing on the side of the gangway, holding a cane in both hands. He just got off the small broken ship in London. The turbulence and the smell of the cabin made him a little sick, so he didn't want to be too early. Boarding.

"Hey! Don't move Salsa, she doesn't like being hugged by strangers!" Nelson looked up to the side. A well-dressed young woman was staring at the waiter who was serving her aboard with disgust, and reached out to **** the dog. Rope, stepping on high heels protrudingly, and walking up the stairs "thumpy" without forgetting to put on the next sentence, "I will complain to you!"

   The young waiter suddenly collapsed. He quickly noticed Nelson next to him, put away his frustration, walked to Nelson with a smile, and greeted him, "This little gentleman, where is your family?"

"I'm here alone." Nelson is still flexing his muscles, he is still wearing that suit-a gray tartan coat and a trilby, holding a luxurious cane, looks like a dusty, if you can stick one Hu Quotuo is an old-fashioned gentleman. He originally thought he looked silly in this outfit. Who would have thought of this until later found out that he was quite avant-garde? It is hard to imagine him living in an era with these people. . After the activity, he picked up the box, handed the ticket to the waiter, and stepped onto the gangway, "Can you take me to the room? I want to take a shower first."

   "Of course, Mr. Williams." After checking the ticket, the waiter bent over to salute, then got up and said, "Sir, let me take the box for you."

"No, thank you." Nelson, who had already climbed aboard, looked at the busy sailors on the deck and the guests who had begun to communicate with the wine glasses. He turned his head and looked at the waiter who followed, and squinted at the white star badge on his chest. Name tag, "Jack? Does this ship have a name?"

"Yes, it's called Icarus, but we all call it Aika." Jack nodded and walked into the management room on the first floor. After a while, he walked out with a bunch of keys and gestured, "Sir, please Come with me, your room is here."

   "Hiss..." Nelson shook his head. The disadvantages of reading a lot of books are undoubtedly obvious. He joked softly, "This is really not a good name."

"Sir, I'm sorry, the noise in the boiler room is too loud, I didn't hear what you were talking about." Jack turned to apologize, "Your room is in the front, and you are at the end of the corridor just around the corner, the third room. "

"Okay, give me the key. I'll just go by myself." Nelson took out a few shilling coins from his pocket and handed it to Jack. While receiving the key, he exhorted, "Please help me go to the store below to buy one. Just use a new set of pen and ink, buy a stack of letter paper and five envelopes..."

   "Okay, sir." Jack put away the money and was about to turn around and leave.

   "Forget it, buy some more." Nelson stopped him, took out two more, and put them in Jack's palm. "The rest is the tip." He picked up the box and walked to the room.

I have to say that the summer vacation is only about staying with relatives. Nelson did not notice the various facilities during the trip. He opened the door and saw the sunlight passing through the wide portholes enough to brighten the whole room. , Squinted his eyes happily.

   Putting down the luggage, Nelson did not rush to pack it, but opened the door and walked out. He locked the door and walked straight to the top of the building.

Maybe it was because there were not enough people on the ship. There were not a few people on the roof platform. Nelson stood by the handrail on the shore, unbuttoned and opened his clothes, feeling the damp sea breeze with a hint of salty smell. Looking at the dense crowds of people below, the fence on the pier has been removed, and the shipping company has replaced it with a sturdier and simpler gangway, and started to check the tickets formally. Although there are many people underneath, it looks messy, but in fact it is in order. Orderly, there was no imaginary incident.

"The boat will be sailing in one hour." A man who was also blowing on the roof came to Nelson, his back leaning on the armrest, half of his weight was in the air, he held a pipe and held it deep in his mouth. After taking a sip, holding it for a while, and then spit out three regular smoke rings, they floated to the sky while expanding, until they dissipated in the sea breeze.

Nelson turned his head and looked at him. The man next to him was unshaven and wearing a fur coat. Inside was a long-wearing sailor suit. He should be working on this ship. Nelson smelled a pungent smoke. I couldn't help but wrinkled my nose, leaning on the handrail and looking at the crowds of people on the pier, "Is it time?"

"There must be time. You don't go on time, someone will always bump into it." The man took a cigarette, but was choked with coughing. He angrily grabbed the pipe and beat it on the armrest, without paying any attention to falling onto the deck below. Ash and tobacco, "Broken tobacco...I am the chief mate of this ship, you can call me Jack."

   He squeezed a little tobacco out of his pocket and stuffed it into the pipe, clamped the collar of the coat with his neck to block the wind, rubbing the matches strenuously.

   "Jack? Are you also called Jack?" Nelson laughed, took a lighter from his pocket and lit it, and handed it to First Mate Jack's mouth.

   "Do you still smoke?" First Mate Jack came up with his pipe and said vaguely, "Do you know little Jack?"

   "He sent me to the room." Nelson nodded and closed the lid of the lighter. "This is a souvenir. I don't smoke, but I like it very much."

   "Indeed, the design is very unique, it should be windproof, very suitable for the sea." First Mate Jack commented professionally.

   The two chatted one after another. The crowd on the pier was much sparser. Only dozens of people crowded under the gangway were left, and there was a 4*4 phalanx farther away. First Mate Jack told Nelson a lot of interesting things at sea and detailed the division of labor on the ship, which opened his eyes.

   "Who are they? Are they soldiers?" Nelson stretched his arms and pointed to the phalanx.

"Who? Let me see..." First Mate Jack squinted his eyes and looked at the dock, then turned his head shortly. "You must avoid contact with them. They are not soldiers, they are mental patients from London, I don't know. What to send to Europe...but you shouldn't be able to deal with them, and their person in charge won't let them go out."

First Mate Jack quickly scolded the company with some vulgar language peculiar to the sea, scolded them for crowding these dangerous men into this shift, scolded them as vampires lying on the seamen, and cursed all their ships sinking into the sea... As his topic became more and more dangerous and evil, Nelson hurriedly stopped him.

   "Don't do this, we are still on this ship." He grabbed the sleeve of the first officer Jack, "Speaking of which, the person named Jack may be born with the sea. I already know four Jacks related to the sea."

   "Who?" First Mate Jack put a bit of tobacco into the pipe~www.NovelMTL.com~, holding it up and sucking it, while asking with interest.

   "In addition to the two of you, there are two others, one is Jack Sparrow and the other is Jack Dawson."

   "Who are they? Are they also seamen?"

   "No, they are characters in novels, a pirate novel, a romance novel."

   "No wonder I don't know them," First Mate Jack grinned softly, and said in a self-deprecating tone, "I read less after all."

   He glanced at the pier again, knocked off the tobacco in the pipe, straightened up and put on a sailor hat, "I have to go to the deck, and remember to go downstairs for dinner later."

"Goodbye." Nelson took off his hat and bid farewell. He looked at the empty dock with only a few cleaned seamen. He walked up the stairs and jumped down. The hull shook again. Nelson could hear the heavy chains wrapped around the winch. The sound of friction, and the sound of boat anchors scratching the river bed transmitted to the shore through the iron chain.

   "Woo——"

When the siren sounded, Nelson and lying in the bathtub watched the advertisements in the room with relish. On his bed were scattered several maps, a newspaper and a notebook. The top one described the destination as Poland's North Sea shipping route.

   "This may be the last time the ship has taken this route." Nelson shook his head, buried his head in the water, gurgling bubbles, and the sound in the water became fuzzy and magical. "After all, there is going to be a war."

   Suddenly, the water in the bathtub shook violently. They moved forward as a whole, and a few water splashes splashed on the bathroom floor. The huge inertia made him submerged in the water. He flopped a few times, got up from the bathtub, walked to the mirror and started to wipe his body.

   The boat has sailed, and it will be a week from now until the next docking.

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